Tracing a Big T's history

General non-technical questions and comments about the cars.
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Ian3781
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Tracing a Big T's history

#1 Post by Ian3781 » Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:38 am

Maybe this has been a topic in the forum already, I didn't find anything though.
Maybe it was also a past Sixappeal article too, in which case apologies.

My car is LHD and as far as I can tell it was bought from a French or Belgian Triumph dealer but I only have limited info and its all heresay.

Is there a way to trace these cars starting from their production? The VIN is 1 MG 51287LDL
I'd like to understand where it was made or assembled.
My car is fitted with overdrive, should there be an O somewhere in that VIN?

What's the history of LHD triumphs were they assembled in Coventry or elsewhere?

The badge in the engine bay has the usual details but the paint code section is totally blank !!
The car is white and there are no traces anywhere of any other colour

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Jonathan Lewis
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Re: Tracing a Big T's history

#2 Post by Jonathan Lewis » Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:12 pm

The numeral prefix to the Commission Number indicates that the car would have been assembled at one of Triumph's overseas assembly plants (Belgium, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). I am pretty sure that '1' signifies assembly at Malines in Belgium. Some LHD cars were also assembled at Canley, dependent on year, model and delivery destination.

In theory, more information should be available via the BMIHT's production trace service, but I have a nasty suspicion that they only hold records for completed cars leaving Canley, not those built up from CKD kits abroad... :(

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Re: Tracing a Big T's history

#3 Post by Ian3781 » Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:43 pm

Jonathan Lewis wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:12 pm
The numeral prefix to the Commission Number indicates that the car would have been assembled at one of Triumph's overseas assembly plants (Belgium, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). I am pretty sure that '1' signifies assembly at Malines in Belgium. Some LHD cars were also assembled at Canley, dependent on year, model and delivery destination.

In theory, more information should be available via the BMIHT's production trace service, but I have a nasty suspicion that they only hold records for completed cars leaving Canley, not those built up from CKD kits abroad... :(
Thanks, I wonder if quality control was looser at the Malines site, it might explain how it was shipped with no info on the paint code section
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Re: Tracing a Big T's history

#4 Post by Phil T » Sat Apr 03, 2021 5:46 pm

Perhaps it was originally shipped with the same paint as a Delorean.......

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Re: Tracing a Big T's history

#5 Post by johnnydog » Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:22 pm

In answer to your question about the overdrive, certainly for UK destined cars, there would have been an 'O' at the end of the 'DL'; similarly if it had the optional PAS, there would have been a 'P'.
Years ago, I had a LHD 2500TC that was on an 'S registration. From memory the first suffix letter in the chassis no started with an 'L' signifying LHD drive manufacture ie LDLOP, or LDLBWP in the case of an auto.
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Re: Tracing a Big T's history

#6 Post by Jonathan Lewis » Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:57 am

The August 2019 edition of SIXappeal (No.228) has an article about the Malines/Mechelen assembly plant.

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